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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

my husband is in love with another woman.

359 replies

ponytailcapbadge · 10/01/2026 18:59

Sorry this is a name change and a long one so as not to drip feed. I would like to hear people’s opinions as I am considering leaving my DH as he is in love with someone else, lets call her Sarah. He has known Sarah since they were 4 years old. Their parents and grandparents were all friends.She is who is parents thought he should and would marry and she is utterly adored by his who family. She called his parents mum and dad. My husband claims they were never an item (although he wished they were) and they have only kissed once when they were teenagers. She’s nothing to look at but has done very well in her career. We are now all in our late 50s.
This is a second marriage for both me and DH. I met him and his DW at work. I was friends with his DW1 and she would often speak about Sarah and how much she hated her and how she had banned her husband from ever contacting her. When DH marriage broke up, I was already divorced and we started seeing each other. Unfortunately in the job we do this is utterly banned and within 2 weeks we were discovered and he was sacked on the spot. He also lost his home at the same time as it went with the job. I was protected because he was my boss and so was considered a victim. DH had to move in with me and I supported him while he searched for a new career. I wanted a commitment from him and he proposed in a very theatrical way within 6 months of us getting together and it was wonderful – or so I thought.

It turned out that he had immediately got in contact with Sarah when his marriage failed and was messaging her several times a day. They also met up at her house. She told him not to marry me. At this point I understood why DW1 hated her. We got married anyway. It’s fair to say it’s been a pretty tempestuous union. My career has skyrocketed and I’ve moved up through the ranks. He’s struggled to find work and earns now a fraction of what he did when we worked together. I knew that he still thought about her and once he called out her name during sex.
When his mother died Sarah turned up at the funeral. I was furious that she should insert herself into our family grief. When DH father died a few years later she also came to that funeral and had the cheek to bring her husband and child as well. I told him in no uncertain terms that if he spoke to her there that the marriage would be over. She glared at me the whole time.
After the funeral I said he could never speak to Sarah again and told him to remove all social media links to her. I don’t understand why Sarah’s husband hadn’t stopped them speaking to each other.
It’s been 6 years and I really thought she was out of our lives and then on NYE his phone pinged.I checked his phone and it was a text from Sarah saying HNY. I then realised she is never going to be gone from our lives. Our respective kids are almost grown up. AIBU to think now is the time to call this a day. I’ve never even spoken to this woman and yet I want to kill her. I hate what she has done to my marriage. Do I really want to spend the last part of my life with a man who is in love with someone else?

OP posts:
EmeraldShamrock000 · 10/01/2026 22:16

I don’t know, she could be like a sister to him. I have a close friend who I know my whole life. I love him as family and his siblings.
If he is romantically in love it is all fantasy, she probably was worried about him rushing into a marriage. Do you have a good relationship otherwise?

VividPinkTraybake · 10/01/2026 22:18

Gymnopedie · 10/01/2026 20:00

Why doesnt she stick with her own husband rather than messaging mine? i cant sleep since I saw that text. It makes me wonder what else is going on.

Because she doesn't want him but she absolutely laps it up that he wants her. So she involves herself just enough to keep him keen, she doesn't want to lose the thrill of knowing how he feels.

Though I'm not sure that is the only reason she appeared at the funerals, the families go back a long way and seem very intertwined, but it would nonetheless have had the same effect and she may not have been too sad about that.

By going to a funeral of people she knew since being a child, and by saying Happy New Year, she truly burn the harlot for that....

PixieDust91 · 10/01/2026 22:19

FrodoBiggins · 10/01/2026 19:24

Eh? Are you judging her for sleeping with him before marriage?
She says she got with DH after his marriage was over.

Agree with others Sarah isn't the problem, she sounds like a perfectly normal childhood friend. Your DH is the problem, he's proudly infatuated with her and also sounds like a bit of a wetter. Your behaviour at the funerals was awful.

No she didnt??? Can you not read? She made is clear in her FIRST post that she was the one divorced and she got with him while he was still in his marriage. Cheaters helping each other cheat and then surprised they are getting cheated on LMAO

Mumtobabyhavoc · 10/01/2026 22:19

Is her name Camilla? 🤔

sunnieday · 10/01/2026 22:20

I dont blame him if you think describing a woman as " nothing to look" is ok

MrsColinRobinson · 10/01/2026 22:21

Shoutinglagerlagerlager · 10/01/2026 19:20

I don’t think Sarah’s the problem here 😂And I’d expect a good friend to tell him not to marry someone he’d been seeing for 6 months, so soon after his last marriage ended.
Sarah had every right to attend the funerals of his parents.

This sums it up perfectly.

Your husband should definitely call time on this awful marriage.

GarlicSound · 10/01/2026 22:22

EchoesOfOurDreams · 10/01/2026 21:05

I actually don't think the post is real because of that detail. People don't actually do that outside of movies/TV do they?

Erm, I've done it. One or two of my partners have done it. There was quite a long recent thread about it, it's not that unusual!

It does tell you something, yes, but not necessarily that the person who embarrassingly called the wrong name is in love with its owner. A brain in mid-orgasm doesn't work very logically.

MrsColinRobinson · 10/01/2026 22:24

ponytailcapbadge · 10/01/2026 20:53

I'm sorry - I'm not a crazy,. I'm a nice rational person. I do a responsible job. I dont understand why I just cant get this bit of my life sorted and its tearing me apart. Maybe I shouldnt have given the back story but I didnt want to drip feed.

You're really not coming across as a nice person.

beAsensible1 · 10/01/2026 22:25

You got married under insane circumstances frankly. The cheating, job, homeless. Horrible foundation and really him losing his job due to the relationship. Getting engaged after 6 months seems like a cry for help more than anything.

any good friend would tell him he would be stipid to get married. He should’ve taken time to sort his life out clearly as the subsequent years for him have been shit.

not sure why you forced the committed relationship so early on, when things were tumultuous, you essentially gave him an ultimatum when he was jobless and homeless. It was out of desperation ffs!

I have no inkling based on your examples that Sarah is some femme fatale after your husband other than she attended close family funerals and said happy new year.

your DH doesn’t seem like some catch she’s hankering after by your own admission.

VividPinkTraybake · 10/01/2026 22:26

FortnumsWeddingBreakfastTeaPlease · 10/01/2026 20:58

@ponytailcapbadge

I think you've had some really harsh responses. His first wife wasn't imagining it, and neither are you. Women like Sarah are sly pieces of work.

I worked with one. Obsessed with this guy she had been friends with since childhood, but he never wanted more than friendship from her. Saying how they were "best friends." Announcing her own relevance and importance, because she was going to make sure she was a woman in his life, because she couldn't accept she wasn't the woman in his life. She wasn't letting him go and she hated anyone he was with. If it wasn't for her one sided initiating, with a good dose of "omg, we've been friends since forever, you need to relax" to the guys wife, the guy would have lost contact with her years ago.

The question here, is what responses is your DH giving? Why isn't he closing it down?

Where do you get even a scintilla of that view of Sarah from the information provided?

DeepBlueDeer · 10/01/2026 22:26

Starlight7080 · 10/01/2026 21:43

I think you need to stop blaming the other woman so much and focus on your dh . He is the one who is suppose to put you first. Its always been his choice to stay in touch with this woman.

But he hasnt stayed in touch.

Wellshellsbells · 10/01/2026 22:27

I think if Sarah wanted him,she could have him.She probably feels pity for him, he blew up his marriage and career and then his parents died and that HNY text doesn’t sound very personal, probably sent it to loads of people in her phone.You’re scared because you know what he’s capable of. I bet his first wife didn’t realise it wasn’t Sarah she should be worried about, but her friend.

beAsensible1 · 10/01/2026 22:27

You just need to end it honestly. Why would
you want to live like this.

ThePinkPineapple · 10/01/2026 22:34

You’re wrongly thinking - if Sarah didn’t exist we wouldn’t have any problems. I can see why you have all that anger for Sarah. It’s because you feel your DH has settled for you. You know well that if Sarah wanted to be with him she would have because he’s obsessed with her. It makes you feel insecure. You worry if she made a move he’d run to her. The reason he’s with you not her is because SHE chose her husband - that’s why her husband isn’t doing anything because he doesn’t see your DH as a threat. They had their time and chance and a relationship between them never happened so really just relax - she doesn’t want to steal your DH, she friendzoned him

Lou2026 · 10/01/2026 22:38

Sorry, Sarah sounds nice. Your husband is the issue. Its very clear. Sounds like she has friend zoned your husband and hes in a one sided feelings thing.... surely Sarah's husband trusts her and possibly can see its very one sided.

Ilovelifeverymuch · 10/01/2026 22:45

I'm sorry but I don't have any sympathy. You entered this mess with your eyes wide open, and you're massively unreasonable to be upset that she attended the funeral of people she's known since she was 4 and called mum and Dad.

Blump2783 · 10/01/2026 22:54

You have never spoken to her? She is not the problem, your husband being in love with her is. If she felt the same they would have got together.

HK04 · 10/01/2026 22:58

You don’t know he’s in love with her. May just be he loves the thought of what might have been, loves that life was simpler then or even just that he’s fond of her. She seems to trigger you more than needed until you know for sure. Why not speak to your DH and let him know you are considering walking away and the reasons. His reaction and response will tell you more than any of us can. Then decide.

justasking111 · 10/01/2026 23:01

Lou2026 · 10/01/2026 22:38

Sorry, Sarah sounds nice. Your husband is the issue. Its very clear. Sounds like she has friend zoned your husband and hes in a one sided feelings thing.... surely Sarah's husband trusts her and possibly can see its very one sided.

If i knew or suspected that a man was obsessed with me I'd stay far away. I wouldn't keep his phone number, go to anything he was at. An obsession is kind of icky.

SugarCoatSandwich · 10/01/2026 23:03

ponytailcapbadge · 10/01/2026 19:40

ok I admit we did get together when technically he was still married ,but their marriage was over, she was extremely abusive towards him and I was a shoulder to cry on and developed from that. What I'm struggling with is why wont Sarah just leave him alone. She knows I dont like her. She knows that he is meant to be no contact with him. Why doesnt she stick with her own husband rather than messaging mine? i cant sleep since I saw that text. It makes me wonder what else is going on.

I can't believe you actually believe that.

Oh wait, I can. Because somehow youve been silly enough to fall for a man in love with another woman, after being forewarned of this by the wife who had no motive to lie and you believe "work found out about you" by chance alwhich meant he suddenly had somewhere to live and someone to pay for him for the rest of his life as long as he love bombed you.

It's really sad.

caringcarer · 10/01/2026 23:03

Sh would always go to the funerals of people she called Mum and Dad. She had every right to be there. You married a cheat yet seem surprised he wants to cheat again. Let him go to her if she actually wants him. She might just be a good friend to him. A text saying HNY is hardly incriminating evidence.

YourDearDreamer · 10/01/2026 23:09

ponytailcapbadge · 10/01/2026 19:40

ok I admit we did get together when technically he was still married ,but their marriage was over, she was extremely abusive towards him and I was a shoulder to cry on and developed from that. What I'm struggling with is why wont Sarah just leave him alone. She knows I dont like her. She knows that he is meant to be no contact with him. Why doesnt she stick with her own husband rather than messaging mine? i cant sleep since I saw that text. It makes me wonder what else is going on.

So you and husband cheated on his first wife and now at the back of your mind know if he cheated with you behind his wife's back he may be doing the same thing. The problem isnt Sarah its karma.

SalmonOnFinnCrisp · 10/01/2026 23:09

I think you should hate the choices you made ... not Sarah.
This was unhealthy from the 6 month proposal onwards amd your posts are giving...I dont know ... Lady Macbeth vibes?

Is his friendship with sarah crossing a line 🤷🏻‍♀️ who knows....

You chose him knowing this was the set up and in a turbulent mix of unethical circs (both married, getting sacked because you broke office policy etc etc)

Only you can know the state of your marriage but sounds like a divorce might be quite financially painful for you though...so id think twice....

usedtobeaylis · 10/01/2026 23:11

I don't really see that she's done anything wrong. She doesn't seem to have overstepped. They have known each other since the age of 4 and she is allowed to have her place as a friend with an opinion on his forthcoming marriage. She absolutely should be able to attend the funerals of people she has known since she was a child, and she is allowed to text her friend at new year. If anyone is the problem, it is him. And you, tbh.

Scohpahni · 10/01/2026 23:12

Quite ironic really you were interested in him and even we’re friends with his first wife. They broke up you got a sniff ditched her for her man. Forced him into marriage and now will cry cause history is repeating itself and you’ll loose him how you found him